books.google.com - Woven, printed, embroidered, knitted -- textiles are pivotal to the everyday experience of people in all parts of the world. This wide-ranging and informative book conveys the excitement and new challenges textiles represent and is essential reading for anyone working with, studying or simply interested...http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Textile_Book.html?id=K1VR6wQTNAsC&utm_source=gb-gplus-shareThe Textile Book

The Textile Book

Woven, printed, embroidered, knitted -- textiles are pivotal to the everyday experience of people in all parts of the world. This wide-ranging and informative book conveys the excitement and new challenges textiles represent and is essential reading for anyone working with, studying or simply interested in textiles.

Taking as their starting point the very meaning of textiles, Gale and Kaur go on to demonstrate the astonishing range of opportunities for careers in the field, from the creative (artists, craftspeople and designers) to the social and industrial, to the commercial and associated practices (buyers, journalists, researchers and scientists). The Textile Book takes us behind the scenes with professionals to reveal what various jobs involve, what influences decision makers, and how their decisions affect what we buy next season. What happens to clothes before they reach the shops? What determines the 'must have' item? How can recycled bottles be transformed into silk-like yarns? These and many other questions are explored to show the diversity that makes up the contemporary global textile scene.

This book has beautiful pictures, and I thought was also filled with a very interesting overview of the evolution of the textile industry. The book takes its reader on a journey on the different uses of textiles and the changes that have occurred over time in its production, as well as includes modern careers in the field to consider. A very good over-arching book that goes through the history and evolution of the textile industry and ties it in to where the industry is at today. If you want great detail on any one period, then perhaps this book would not be the right one for you, but if you want an interesting take on the history and industry as a whole--then I would definitely recommend. The book is broken up into 4 sections: Overviews, The Creative, The Social and Industrial Context, Related Disciplines and Studies--and I found this book to be a very easy read.Not quite sure why the last reviewer gave it only 1 stars (and that was for the pictures)--but I did not get the same experience or consider the writing "drivel". I believe you can find excerpts of this book online...so judge for yourselves! I also used portions of this book on a graduate paper I did for my MBA program as well (and did very well on my paper!)...Again, an easy and informative read if you want a nicely detailed overview of the textile industry's history, as well as modern career possibilities! Enjoy!!